ST. BONIFACE HOSPITAL FOUNDATION ROSE SOIREE

Friends and fellow Manitobans, healers and advocates for health, it’s a pleasure to join you in the heart of beautiful St. Boniface for this wonderful evening in support of cardiac care.

We are gathered on Treaty One land, on the traditional territory of the Anishinaabe and the homeland of the Metis people.

I begin by acknowledge that the Anishinaabe and Metis people lived here long before this place became known as Winnipeg. And our province remains home to a large and vibrant Indigenous community.

When we talk of the “heart of the city” we usually mean “downtown.”

But in so many ways, the place where we’re gathered tonight is the heart of our city and province.

We’re surrounded here by history – including the grave of Louis Riel and the former convent of the Grey Nuns. And at the same time, we’re just a short walk from the innovations and new discoveries being made at the St. Boniface Hospital.

This beautiful landmark, so creatively restored after the terrible fire in 1968 – is a symbol of hope and rebirth. And the new cathedral, designed by Étienne Gaboury and Denis Lussier, symbolizes the new life that can follow the most devastating loss.

So what a fitting place this is to support research and patient care that offers new hope and new opportunities for living for thousands of Manitobans.

People who believe in progress and cheer enthusiastically about events that bring people together to make life better are sometimes accused of seeing life through rose-coloured glasses.